Italian Stocks/Bonds Dump (And EUR Slump) On Auction Disappointment

Europe saw red today. Italian equities and bonds traded notably off (with FTSEMIB now -2.7% on the week) amid their biggest drop in over a week and heading back to post-election lows. The driver was a less-than-desirous auction at the short-end of the Italian bond curve (the part of the curve that Draghi 'promised' would be fine) as the 12-month bill went out 43bps above the January lows. This sparked weakness overall as across the board weakness was evident in stocks and bonds in Europe. EURUSD dropped back below 1.2950 for the first time in 3 months. Commerzbank's recap also stumbled markets a little even though it was widely rumored and Europe's financials underperformed broadly. A late-day ramp - oddly starting at 1130ET (when Europe used to close pre-DST) - just like we saw yesterday - saved the day for stocks and crediy overall.